In the prior art, for example, in German AS No. 2109696 and in German Pat. No. 970012, processes and apparatuses have been disclosed for drying textile wound packages by means of circulating air in closed systems while superheating. Such closed systems comprise a textile goods container as well as an air circulation system including a line and a pump. Upstream of the textile material container, a preheater has been inserted in the system by means of which the air is heated or even superheated. Downstream of the textile goods container, a condenser and a separator are inserted into the circulation system. By means of the condenser, the air having been guided through the textile material and thus humidified, is cooled, while in the succeeding separator, the condensed liquid is carried away. After the separation of the liquid, the air is again fed to the preheater by way of the pump and is circulated further through the closed system, until the desired degree of drying of the textile material has been achieved.
The separator provided in such systems makes the constructional expense of the apparatus relatively expensive. Furthermore, we find that because of the separator, relatively high pressure losses occur in the closed system, for which reason the pump must have a relatively high energy consumption. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the separator in drying the circulation air is less than desirable; therefore, since the air fed to the textile material is still relatively moist, the drying process in its totality is relatively time consuming.
Therefore, the invention has an object of developing the process and the apparatus of the type described above in such a way that a desired degree of drying may be achieved within a shorter period of time and with less consumption of energy. A further object is to reduce the expense of the apparatus required for this purpose.